One-way analysis of variance was used to compare the continuous and normally distributed values in the five journals.
Categorical and ordinal data were analyzed using the Chi-square test followed by a modified Bonferroni correction. The investigator aimed to examine the overall SI scores, the HSS from a single source, and location of the duplicate text in the retracted publications from the five high-impact anesthesia journals.ĭata were tested for normality using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test.
I hypothesized that the overall similarity index (OSI) score and HSS from a single source might help to predict the potential reasons for the retraction from the high-impact anesthesia journals. Up to the best of my knowledge, no previous publications have studied the predictability of the overall SI score for the reasons of retraction from high-impact anesthesia journals. I believe that Taylor's screening algorithm could be extrapolated to the anesthesia journals not only for detecting plagiarism but also predicting the reason for retractions. Taylor has developed an effective screening algorithm for the detection of plagiarism in the manuscripts submitted to the American Journal of Roentgenology including (1) the overall SI including quotations and references, (2) the highest similarity score (HSS) from a single source, and (3) to submit manuscripts with an average value of more than 12% for further review. Higgins and others found good sensitivity and specificity for the cutoff SI score of 15% (84.8% and 80.5%, respectively) to detect plagiarism among the manuscripts submitted to a single specialized medical journal ( Genetics in Medicine) over a 1-year period. Of note, the low SI score does not necessarily mean eliminating plagiarism. There is no current consensus about the cutoff SI score to detect plagiarism.
ITHENTICATE ACCEPTABLE SIMILARITY INDEX SOFTWARE
Currently, the Crossref Similarity Check (iThenticate) is one of the most commonly used software for examination of the similarity index (SI) of the text. The World Association of Medical Editors defines plagiarism as “the use of others' published and unpublished ideas or words (or other intellectual property) without attribution or permission and presenting them as new and original rather than derived from an existing source.” The commercial plagiarism-checking software is regularly used by the journals for detecting plagiarism.
Retractions in the medical literature are usually due to compromised peer review, ethical misconduct, plagiarism, duplicate publications, fabrication, falsification, inappropriate data management, authorship issues, journal issues, review process, conflict of interest, or unknown reasons. There is a significant increase in the number of retracted scientific publications which could reflect the changes in the behavior of journals' editors, authors, and institutions. The editors have the responsibilities to retract the flawed publications to correct the scientific literature. The high-impact anesthesia journals have the commitments to maintain the integrity of the clinical research for offering safe and effective patients' care and building the public trust in healthcare systems.